Friday, August 28, 2009

Fixed Gear: Savannah, GA

Emily and I just got back from a fine beach vacation in Hilton Head, SC with plenty of sand castles, alligators, beach cruisers, sunsets and fruity drinks in a rainbow of colors (which we were more intent on drinking, rather than taking pictures of them):

One day while we were there we took a drive over to Savannah, GA (about 30 minutes away) and shopped and took pictures of bicycles. Savannah is home to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) so you can imagine the number of "hip" art-school kids with fixed gear bikes. I'll preface these photos first with an apology to anyone whose bike I captured that isn't an art-school hipster and actually rides for the love of it, for the work of it (shout to Brett, a Savannah Pedi-cabbie who was super nice to talk to for a while), or for the transportation of it. Savannah is beautiful and I want to come back and race and play polo (everyday!?) and just ride in your bike lanes and park in your abundant bike parking, but it seemed that a lot of the bikes I saw were strictly trying to be cool. Here's what I mean:

I never thought about grabbing my bars from underneath but I imagine it would make you pretty aero:

Or, "I'm gonna chip to hell my sweet-ass Merckx with this un-sheathed chain." Two condoms are needed here: one for the chain and one for the owner so he doesn't reproduce:

However this is the worst:

Where did that derailleur go? It must not have been any good. What does Dura-Ace mean anyway?

However there were some good looking bikes around like this guy:

...and his rather smart basket:

Or this Fuji Track Pro that was (regrettably) spray painted white:

And overall Savannah looks like an enoyable place to ride:

I mostly took pictures of fixed gears and single speeds as there were WAY too many cruisers. Check the rest of them on my flickr.